Minna von Barnhelm

   by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.

   Premiered 1768. Said to be the first "national comedy" in German because it seemed less plagued than its contemporaries by French influences, this comedy is also "national" in the sense that it calls for a Prussian-Saxon reconciliation. The title character is a lively young Saxon princess in love with a duty-bound Prussian major named Tell-heim. Prussian military authorities have discharged Tellheim due to financial irregularities for which he was responsible, and he feels he is no longer worthy of Minna's devotion. Their planned marriage is out of the question. He holes up in a small inn, where she finds him disconsolate, yet she convinces him that she has lost her fortune— and since both are now penniless they should start life anew. The character of Minna is one of the finest of all female roles in the German repertoire, largely because it consists of a focused determination, though humorous and often playful, to get Tellheim to fall in love with her again. When King Frederick the Great removes all charges against Tellheim and restores him to the rank of officer, Tell-heim realizes that her love for him is more valuable than rank or station—a realization that for a Prussian constitutes a powerful catharsis. The play also benefits from singularly effective comic characters, Minna's maid Franziska and Tellheim's orderly Just.